Scott and Sink combine to spend $55 million on TV during general election

Florida's top two candidates for governor have spent more on TV ads in the past 10 weeks than what the state budgeted for textbooks in Hillsborough County the past three years.

Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Alex Sink have burned through $54.6 million in their TV ad wars, or about $6 million more than the textbook budget in the state's third-largest school district since the 2008 school year.

"It looks like a staggering amount of money, but when you think about the dynamics it's not that surprising" said Cory Tilley, one of former Gov. Jeb Bush's political strategists. "This is the modern political world in Florida. And it's complicated and expensive."